Albuquerque police said on Twitter Sunday that they were investigating an car accident involving UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who some are reporting is out of UFC 187 as a result.
Here’s what the Albuquerque police said on Twitter:
We CANNOT confirm that Jon Jones was involved in a H&R traffic accident from this morning. The investigation is ongoing.
— Albuquerque Police (@ABQPOLICE) April 26, 2015
Rumors of Jones’ involvement in an incident surfaced Sunday afternoon when MMA Twitter personality/newsbreaker “Front Row Brian” said the fighter was out of his UFC 187 fight after being involved in a hit and run.
News will break very soon… Jon Jones OUT of UFC 187.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) April 26, 2015
I don’t have details.. just told that Jon Jones is out of UFC 187. Got this independent of what @BloodstainLane tweeted.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) April 26, 2015
Front Row Brian tweeted some extremely explosive details before later backtracking.
LATEST ON JON JONES. is in custody in ABQ. 3 car accident.Ran red light. Allegedly under the influence. Jones ran from scene. Cocaine found
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) April 26, 2015
There’s also a rumor Jones struck a vehicle driven by a pregnant woman. I have no information on anyone’s condition.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) April 26, 2015
Once his tweets went viral, Brian began to back down:
UPDATE- I jumped the gun regarding the Jon Jones. Got caught up in the story. Not enough information for me to make the claims I did.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) April 26, 2015
Jon Jones is NOT in custody. All I can confirm is that Jon was involved in a car accident and we’ll have to see how it plays out.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) April 26, 2015
There’s not enough information. A lot of moving parts and another person involved in the incident. Truth will come out.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) April 26, 2015
Though Albuquerque police confirmed Jon Jones was not in custody — and Brian corrected that part — that does not mean that his report about Jones being out of the May 23 fight with Anthony Johnson is inaccurate.
MMA Weekly separately reported that Jones was out for the fight, however, they later retracted that claim while confirming the car accident.
We can confirm Jones in accident. Fight has not been cancelled. Solid source initially said it was but retracted after report went public.
— Ken Pishna (@KenPishna) April 27, 2015
When LBS reached out to police prior to the tweet, we were told that Jones was not in custody and that they had not heard of any incident of the sort.
What we can tell you is that Jones was out with Andrei Arlovski at a Twin Peaks on Saturday night to watch UFC 186. Arlovski and Jones train together with Greg Jackson in Albuquerque. There is a Twin Peaks in Albuquerque.
MMA reporter Josh Gross says Jackson has not been able to contact Jones:
As of right now Greg Jackson is unable to confirm any news related to Jon Jones. That said, he hasn't been able to reach the UFC champ.
— Josh Gross (@yay_yee) April 26, 2015
Ariel Helwani reported something similar:
All the closest sources I know to JBJ have not spoken to him in over 24 hours. Trying to weed fact from fiction, friends. Please standby.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 26, 2015
At this point it is too early to confirm that Jones is out of the fight and that he was involved in a car accident. We will continue to keep you updated on all the existing information.
UPDATE: Police say witnesses believe Jones was the driver and they found marijuana inside the car after the accident.
